Imaginary Friends

I'm putting this is the 5-8 category as I assume it peters out by eight in most kids. But I'm not entirely clear. What I want to know is, what's the latest time kids start having imaginary friends?

DS is 4.5yo and has never had one. I'm really not used to kids who don't have imaginary friends and not sure how common it is. Seems like most kids I know (now and remembering from childhood) had one at some stage or another, if not more than one. I actually had a whole circle of imaginary friends and they were all quite vivid.

Could it still be coming or is it unlikely he'll start if he hasn't already? I'm just wondering what this says about him socially that he's not interested in imagining friends when he's clearly interested in imagining all sorts of other things.

DS1 used to have one but he seems to have grown out of it (he's 6 now) and DD has one at the moment (hers is a spider and she gives it this creepy voice that freaks me out), DS2 though doesn't have one and I can't really see him ever having one, he just isn't that sort of kid.

DD (now 5.5) has had an imaginary friend for a couple of years now, and it's a very convenient one...it all started when the imaginary friend started to get blamed for accidents that were happening around the home. So this imaginary friend has a purpose.

Some children skip the crawling stage, but they can still walk! So imaginary friends don't mean much except I think that it's a self soothing activity for the child.

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